French drug lottery idea causes uproar

A proposal by the National Aids Council, an advisory body to the French government, that HIV positive people should take part in a lottery to decide whether they should be treated with a new drug has been rejected as unacceptable by prime minister Alain Juppe. Ritonavir, an antiprotease drug developed by Abbott Laboratories in the United States, will not be immediately available in a large enough quantity to treat the 15000 French …